


The Ruler and the Killer

by CaffeinatedBunny



Category: Inception (2010), Legend (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Gift Fic, M/M, Meet-Cute, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 00:59:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18084359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaffeinatedBunny/pseuds/CaffeinatedBunny
Summary: “Sometimes the slightest things change the directions of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the earth. Lives have swiveled and changed direction on the strength of a chance remark.”― Bryce Courtenay





	The Ruler and the Killer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lolahardy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolahardy/gifts).



> I have not seen Legend (Not for lack of trying I just can't get into it for the life of me.) So I'm working off what I have seen, impressions of the characters I got and gif sets. So please forgive me if the characters are wildly out of said character, this was something that hit me hard and wouldn't leave me alone for days. My friends can attest to the fact that I whined at them about it for nearly a week before I finally got this together and done. 
> 
> This is a gift fic for the lovely LolaHardy who was kind enough to answer my prompts when I was having the worst month ever as well as her lovely drabble universe that inspired this vaguely. So I hope everyone enjoys! 
> 
> Chapter title from: Dancing with out Hands tied by Taylor Swift.  
> Title from: The Ruler and the Killer by Kid Cudi

Arthur doesn't know when it was he first noticed them, and it was them he realized later on once their faces clicked with him; their differences and their similarities. The first man he noticed at the café, he kept to himself in the corner seat, his back to the wall, eyes glancing around sharply in a quick observant scan, his suit coat cut to fit his thickly muscled shoulders and arms. He noticed him first mainly because the man tended to watch him, not maliciously but attentively; it had started out so subtly that it took him weeks to notice at all if he's being honest about it. The man, would watch him from the corner of his eye as he went about his work but slowly progressed to the point that it seemed his eyes never left him as he delivered orders of food and drinks to patrons. 

It was unsettling at first to always feel the so serious and sharp gaze constantly on him, but one night that changed; a man had come in, something entirely not unusual what was out of the norm was his anger and violence as he lashed out through the café startling everyone. Arthur found himself rooted to the spot, his tray held at his side by loose fingers as the stranger turned the brunt of his anger towards him. He found himself tensing in preparation as the man takes two strides towards him, before a low but loud clearing of a throat cuts through the man's rant, pulling both their attention towards the back corner of the café. Arthur blinked at the change that had overtaken the man sitting there, his face had formed into such a severe intense scowl that sent a shiver down his spine, quickly he turns to face the aggressive man who had gone still and silent, turning pale as his eyes went wide. 

Arthur had never seen a man go from a boiling rage to shocked fear so quickly before nor from just a look; his shock soon turned to confusion as the man in front of him lost all ability to form a sentence as he stuttered out apology after apology while doing his best to leave the way he came. He stumbled over the chair's he'd toppled over but not stopping to fix his mess as he quickly fled the scene; blinking Arthur lets out a breath he didn't remember holding just before all his tension left him. The sudden absence of violence with adrenaline still singing in his veins leaving his knees feeling like jelly in the aftermath, he braces himself against the nearby counter for a moment. Slowly he pulls himself back together; taking a long breath before lifting a slightly trembling hand to push his hair back into place. Standing up straight once more he surreptitiously fixes his waist coat, putting his tray down onto the counter before striding forwards to get to fixing up tables and chairs in the stranger's wake for now not wanting to face the man in the corner. 

After all what kind of man was he that he could stop a man in a rage with just a single look and not a word spoken? Once the tables and the chairs were righted he quickly puts his nerves about facing the man behind him, after all who ever he was his reputation had just saved him and it would be rude not to thank him. Turning sharply on his heel he heads towards the man in the back corner who had gone back to glancing over the newspaper he had laid out before him.

"Thank you, I don't know why you scared him so much and I'm not sure if I care too know but thank you." Arthur finds himself saying as he stops at the end of the table to look at the broad shouldered man, who pauses seemingly in going over the crossword before turning his attention to him. The man looked startled as if he wasn't expecting to be addressed maybe, before a slight smirk pulls at his lips as his head tilts to the side and amusement softens his face.

"Names Reggie, and it was nothing." 

"Reggie?" He repeats questioningly considering that wasn't the name he would have ever guessed to put to this man's face. Reggie makes a considering sound in the back of his throat as he glances away, before turning his attention back to him with a larger more charming quirk to his full lips.

"Reginald but Reggie sound friendlier doesn't it?" Reggie says as he leans forwards a bit, voice a low burr; vowels soft again something he wouldn't have expected from this man who's looking up at him imploringly. It's charming in a way he hadn't been expecting and Arthur finds himself licking at his bottom lip as he fights back a small smile from curving his lips in response. It wouldn't do to encourage a patron of the café to continue to flirt in this manner and considering what lead him to this moment he wasn't sure if he wanted to encourage such things. 

"Your right, Reggie does sound friendlier," He admits before nodding his head and once more shifting on his heel to turn. "Your next drink's on me Reggie for the save." tossed over his shoulder as he walks away.

"I think the view is payment enough..." trails after him, and Arthur has never been happier that the man couldn't see the pleased smirk curving his lips. 

\- - -

He noticed the second man properly for the first time a couple nights later after being dragged out by his friends to their preferred club, which was thankfully always decently busy with music geared towards dancing; Arthur could never turn down the demand to go out. It was odd though that the second man's face was a vaguely familiar site in the crowd around the bar, and it wasn't till he was on the dance floor that he really noticed him. He was constantly glancing around, shoulders tense even as he tried to at least move to the beat of the current song playing. His hair was slicked back, glasses perched on the bridge of what looked to be a crooked nose; it was appealing how awkwardly cute this broad muscular man looked surrounded as he was by other good looking people. But he stood out not just because of how awkward he held himself but also for how he was dressed, where as everyone else was in clubbing clothes or like himself jeans and a tighter shirt; he was in a proper oxford, buttoned down and tucked into the waist of his pants combined with a well fitting belt. 

Shifting through the crowd of dancers he carefully makes his way to the edge of the dance floor, oddly charmed by this stranger who seemed familiar and it wasn't till the man seemed to notice him and turn his full attention to him that Arthur caught onto why he was seemed so. The man bore quite a striking resemblance to Reggie, but it was obvious that it wasn't the man he met at the café. So with a smile he continues forwards till he was standing before the taller man, his head tilting to the side as the stranger comes to a complete stop in his stiff movements. 

"Nervous?" He finds himself asking instead of what he had originally planned but with the way the man simultaneously stood to his full height even as he ducks his head a bit had him rethinking his approach. 

"What makes you think I'm nervous?" The man spoke slowly, deliberately as his eyes seem to lock onto him, like a predator eyeing his prey. This wasn't a man who was used to people approaching him with confrontation, not that Arthur had been trying to be confrontational at all so he softens his smile a bit. Purposefully relaxing his stance he allows himself to take in the full effect of the man standing before him.

"Your tense, your movements stiff; it's obvious you want to dance..." Arthur says as he carefully reaches out to grasp the man's clenched hand to lead him out to the dance floor, there was no way he would have been able to pull or force this man to follow him so a shiver of pleasure slides down his spine as the man allows him to lead him. The last thing he had expected was for the man to tense up further once they were on the dance floor considering most tended to relax under the cover and press of others around them after all anonymity in a crowd such as this was a freeing experience for most. 

"Relax, I'm not going to bite; just focus on me and breathe." He says softly into the man's ear as he leans in so he wouldn't need to shout over the music to be heard, he felt the shuddering breath that the man released as his large hands finally shift from his side and moving to grip at his hips just shy of too tight. Shifting his own arms he casually loops one around the strangers broad shoulders that were showcased so well in his oxford, something he still couldn't get over and was finding he was quite enjoying. Leaving his free hand loose at his sides, he starts to sway to the beat of the song playing. "Move with me." Arthur murmurs as the man holds stiffly still in his arms before starting to sway along with him. 

In moment's they are swaying together and smiling brightly at the other man he lets his arm drop from his shoulders before turning around in his hold till his back was pressed against the mans broad muscular chest. Arthur doesn't bother holding back a hum of pleasure as the man's one hand slips around to hold onto the front of his hip as they all but grind together to the beat of the music. Tilting his head back onto the man's shoulder he looks up at him as he lifts a hand to grip at the stranger's bicep as they continue to move. 

"I'm Ronnie..." The man introduces himself, tucking his head down so that his lips brushed against his ear when he spoke. A shiver makes its way down his spine at the barely there caress combined with the sensation of breath against his ear, arching his back further to press himself closer, Arthur gives his hips a deliberate twist just to hear the man's deep groan.

"I'm Arthur." He introduces himself back to Ronnie as he continues to move easily, noticing how Ronnie gripped at him, kept him close as they moved together; the other man no longer tense or stilted in his movements now that they were pressed together from shoulder to thighs. 

"So tell me Arthur, can I expect you in my bed tonight..." The words were spoken with a rough type of rumble as Ronnie's hand slides further along his hip while his other moves up to carefully frame the base of his throat; his hips grinding his prominent bulge against his lower back. No he definitely wasn't stilted or awkward any more, and while Arthur was enjoying the switch in demeanor, sadly he couldn't indulge the temptation of following this man home. So once more he turns in Ronnie's hold to look up at him; eyes locked with a smile, he presses close as his arms lift up to loop around his shoulders. 

The feel of Ronnie's broad hand at the back of his head as his fingers tangle in the short hair at the nape of his neck has him licking his lips before he's pulling himself in and pressing a kiss to the mans full lips. Sucking on the bottom lip before Ronnie takes control, pulling his head back so he could deepen the kiss, Arthur can't help the moan that comes from him at the action; it had been so long since he had been kissed like this. He offered up his mouth for the other man's kiss, as he's held against Ronnie's broad chest with one hand at his lower back and the other holding his head steady. The man could kiss and if he hadn't been tempted before he surely would be now but, the morning shift at the café wouldn't allow him such an all night tumble that the man was promising. 

Pushing back from the kiss even as Ronnie lets out a dissatisfied sound at the end of it, making Arthur smirk once more even as he licks the last of the other man's taste off his lips. 

"Perhaps another night, I'm not that easy of a conquest;" He says with a lift of his chin and an arch of his brow before he slips out of the circle of the man's arms and heading towards the table he had left his friends at. Grabbing a napkin he fishes a pen out of Darlene's purse to quickly jot down his number; he could feel the heat of the larger man at his back. Glancing up at his friends he can't help the smirk that curves his lips at their impressed looks; turning around once more he shifts to boldly tuck the napkin into Ronnie's pant's pocket. Letting his figures caress the outline of the man's cock before pulling away. 

"Maybe if your good I might give you the night you're looking for." Arthur finishes before reaching for his drink and tossing the liquor back before slipping his coat off the back of his chair and heading towards the door. His friends laughing and calling good night's to the man he had left by their table, glancing over his shoulder he gives Ronnie a bright smile and a wink before exiting into the cold damp of the late night more than ready to collapse into his bed.


End file.
